you some idea of the impact this book has. I'm talking about "No logo" by Naomi Klein - an intriguing book which has recieved a

lot of publicity and picked up recommendations from media figures

such as Thom Yorke.

I was a little

dubious initially, expecting perhaps a heavily politicised

collection of righteous diatribes and economic complexities.

While 'No logo' doesn't shy away from serious analysis, I would

describe it as the most accesible, dynamic and interesting books

I've ever read on this subject, and one that is direcly relevant

to anyone who lives in the modern world, whether fiercely

political or fiercely cynical or both. Or neither.

Reading this book filled me with a real buzz. For a long

period I've felt that there is no set of political beliefs or

actions I could follow that wouldn't self-destruct under the

weight both of heavy opposing arguments and pervading post-modern

cynicism. I think what "No logo" does is alert you to

the fact that you can be radical, indignant and impassioned about

the direction of the modern world without having to fall into the

offputing world of tired political ideologies, stereotypical

left/right arguments, the shallow bickering between reactionary twats

and their slightly-less-reactionary counterparts on the opposing

benches of parliament. The issues described and analysed by Naomi Klein

transcend this popular view of politics and address the system as

a whole, dissecting it infront of our eyes and alerting you at

first to the sheer ugliness lurking behind current trends and

then to a growing wave of resistance, whether individual and

spontaneous or collective.

Naive it is not. 'No logo' is at the same time an objective,

intelligent piece of journalism, and an impassioned manifesto. It

highlights the flaws in all the arguments and movements it

describes, but the sheer analysis is enough to convince you that

things are not right. I don't have room to paraphrase all the

arguments here, but a few of the many issues it addresses are

+ The increasing invasion of advertising and corporate
sponsorship into public spaces and every aspect of our
lives - massive spending of large corporations on
abstract brand-named campaigns leading to branding of
almost every aspect of society
+ The corporate invasion of every cultural and artistic
movement - "cool hunters" who seek out new
subversive youth trends and turn them into marketing
campaigns
+ Something potentially very relevant to readers here - the
'co-opting' of alternative music by large corporations -
the influence of MTV on popular tastes, the quick
commercialisation of the original Seattle punk/grunge
movement, the sad situation where 'indie-cool' is just as
marketable as brand-name sportswear, when armies of Fred
Durst clones parade like empty ghosts of a true
underground ethos, and our indie-rock heroes appear in
the soundtracks of Gap adverts.
+ The expansion of franchise chains like Starbucks and
McDonalds replacing independant shops and homogenising
high streets. Also large out-of-town superstores and the
expanse of suburbia at the expense of real community in
the cities
+ The 'McJobs' phenomenon - How jobs in the western world
are increasingly low-paid and temporary, downsizing and
streamlining of corporations with production being moved
offshore
+ The impact of all this on the third world - sweatshops,
free trade zones, the large-scale exploitation of foreign
workers
+ The many flaws of "globalisation" - the
inequalities of third-world production and attempts by
large corporations to homogenise worldwide culture into a
marketable "global teens" concept